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Fashion in the face of coronavirus pandemic social distancing

3 min read

A photo of the dress popped up in my Facebook feed – a garment so whimsical it stopped me from scrolling by.

It was a black cotton dress festooned with white swans; swans on the bodice, a swan on each sleeve and a bevy of swans on the long, full skirt. The fact it was presented by Anthropologie, my favorite store, made this “swanny” summer frock all the more irresistible.

“And pockets,” I said when I clicked on the ad and saw a different angle.

The model had her hands in the pockets and what girl, not I, doesn’t fall for a dress that gives her a place to rest her hands?

The price was a bit high for me, but there are always sales, so I will wait. Of course, dresses like that don’t last for long, even in a pandemic.

But then again, maybe they do. Are people even buying dresses these days?

It didn’t take long for online clothing stores to shift from office and party clothing to work-from-home clothing. These garments are mostly about comfort, and they are usually not pants because we already own enough floppy sweat pants to last us through the lockdown. And nobody sees us from the waist down on Zoom meetings anyway.

Instead, the retailers are offering shirts and tops that look nice on computer cameras: tops in bright colors or t-shirts with cute sayings on them. I might consider buying a shirt that reads “Please excuse my bad hair,” but otherwise, I don’t see spending good money on clothing that may not be seen by anyone outside the house.

I attend a handful of Zoom work meetings every week.

They are productive and amiable, if not a little weird. We gather in our own version of the theme song of “The Brady Bunch,” each of us in a square. Yesterday, I was Marsha. More than once I’ve been Mr. Brady. And every time, I am wearing either a white short-sleeved cotton shirt or the blue short-sleeved cotton shirt, chosen because they allow me to appear relaxed and homey while still looking somewhat professional.

On the bottom I’m wearing an enormously oversized pair of drawstring surgeon pants because who cares, and also, coronafluff.

These zoom meetings could happen forever and I still doubt any of my fellow Bradys would notice that I’m wearing the same old thing. It’s one of the nice aspects of working from home – getting dressed is a snap because there are no decisions to make.

But the bad part about working from home is, there’s no reason to get all dolled up. My sartorial slump is going on week 10. Back in the good old days, I bought a hot pink jacket, and it’s still hanging there in the closet, tags attached. I hope to soon have someplace to wear it.

That same dilemma is stopping me from buying the swan dress at full price before it’s gone. With its sweeping skirt and fitted bodice, it would look flirty hanging in my closet. Might even look smashing on me. But for what occasion, and where?

To buy the dress will be a sign of my optimism that we’ll all be out there having fun soon.

I’ve visited my swan dress every day since discovering it. So far, it’s still waiting in my shopping cart, still at full price. All sizes are still available, which is hard to believe, considering.

I mean, it has all those noble swans. And did I mention it has pockets?

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